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Monday, July 13, 2015

Problems with Common Core: A Rant

Common Core is an issue of great importance to parents, even
if they do not send their children to state schools. It is so enormous
in its reach that it will crowd out much of the innovation now happening in the
private education sector. Common Core is
so extensive and complex that, as with the “Affordable Care Act,” it will be
years before most citizens understand the many constitutional and pedagogical
problems this Washington, D.C. initiative has caused and will cause. Let’s look at the most important issues.

Why Do Many Citizens
Oppose Common Core?

First, Common Core originated not in the states, but in
Washington, D.C., where two organizations, the National Governors Association
and the Council of Chief School Officers, collaborated with the Gates
Foundation and other private groups.
This major overhaul of K-12 education was created without input from the
elected legislatures of the fifty states.
Governors were bribed by the federal government with threats to deny
funds to states not cooperating with Common Core. This is not a process in which local teachers
and parents had any input, nor was
their input desired. This is a top-down
initiative from businessmen and education bureaucrats,
not teachers.

Given the Constitution of the United States leaves education
to the states (see tenth amendment) Common Core is yet another federal
encroachment into local issues. Parents
also have concerns about the massive amount of data to be collected under
Common Core. Not only will student
information be available to schools, but to private researchers and
companies. The amount and scope of data
on America’s children is unprecedented and alarming to parents concerned with
privacy and civil liberties.

Parents also have reason to doubt that Common Core standards
are indeed preparing students for college.
The fact that Common Core homework is often confusing to parents (one
might think deliberately confusing) makes parents justifiably suspicious. These parents are also concerned about the
toll so much high-stakes testing takes on young children—and the instructional
time children miss as test preparation and administration become the focus of
schools.

Why Do Many Real Teachers
and Professors Oppose Common Core?

Despite assurances that Common Core is not a national
curriculum, states are required by the federal bureaucracy to assure that 85%
of reading and math standards are Common Core compliant.. Thus, only 15%
flexibility is allowed. According to
Eagle Forum, retaining cursive writing instruction would of itself take up that
entire flexibility for a school.
Excellent teachers will be restricted in their ability to use creative
and innovative lesson plans, as they will be chained to the curriculum provided
by Pearson (a major textbook publisher and great beneficiary of Common Core.)

Professor R. James Milgram was the only professional
mathematician on the Common Core Validation Committee. He refused to sign off on the math
standards. He has testified that the
standards are not rigorous—in fact they are two or more years behind
international standards by grade eight and only get worse from there. Common Core neglects/delays teaching of
standard algorithms (i.e. how to calculate the right answer) in favor of group
projects and “reform math.” Engineers
and other STEM professionals typically entered college having already taken
calculus. The Common Core generation
will be lucky to squeeze in a precalculus course before college.

Who Benefits from
Common Core?

Politicians are able, through Common Core, to claim they
“did something” about education. It
matters not whether they did the right thing, only something. Bill Gates made his fortune off computers
and, surprisingly, Common Core requires schools to invest heavily in new
technology instead of human capital (students and teachers.) Michael Barber’s Pearson PLC, a British firm,
also profits; already holding a large share of the textbook and testing market, Pearson can all but destroy rivals in
with the blessing of America’s federal government.

Be Aware

Read about Common Core.
Get involved with state organizations to monitor student privacy
concerns and oppose excessive testing and federal curriculum. Most of all, do what is best for your own
family and community. One size does not
fit all!